PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 18 - Doctors here removed Terri Schiavo's feeding tube this afternoon after a Florida judge rebuffed extraordinary, last-minute maneuvering by lawmakers in Washington to prolong her life 15 years after she suffered severe brain damage.

"It was an emotional occasion, prayers were said at that time and the feeding tube was removed without incident," George Felos, the lawyer for Ms. Schiavo's husband, Michael, said at a news conference he called to announce the action.

Mr. Felos said that Mr. Schiavo had not been present when the tube was removed at 1:45 p.m., but had later arrived to be "with his wife and at her bedside."

Ms. Schiavo's parents had reportedly been by her bedside since about 10:30 a.m. today, but were asked to leave as hospice workers prepared to remove the tube at the order of Judge George W. Greer.

In his news conference, Mr. Felos delivered a blistering criticism of the lawmakers who waged last-minute efforts to try to halt the tube removal, characterizing their actions as "nothing short of thuggery" and attempts to "coerce and intimidate" Mr. Schiavo and the physicians treating his wife despite years of court decisions siding with Mr. Schiavo in his efforts to have her feeding tube removed.

Mr. Felos said that lawmakers from both parties had misused the Schiavo case to further their political aims.

"It was odious, it was shocking, it was disgusting and I think every American should be alarmed by that," he said.

Speaking of Democrats and their inability to block Republican-led efforts on behalf of Ms. Schiavo's parents, Mr. Felos said, "If they can't stand up for Terry Schiavo, then they deserve to be the minority party" and portrayed what he said was Democratic inaction as "even more shocking and disgusting than the conduct of the Republicans who pushed this legislation."

Without nutrition or fluids, Ms. Schiavo can survive on her own for days or even weeks, her doctors have said, provided no one intercedes to have the tube reinserted.

The House Republican leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, who helped spearhead the Congressional efforts to keep Ms. Schiavo alive, said it would be "barbaric" to remove the tube and let Ms. Schiavo starve and dehydrate for two weeks. "I don't care what her husband says," he told reporters.

He also promised late this afternoon that lawmakers would confer over the weekend and reconvene on Monday in an effort to pass legislation ordering restoration of the tube.

The tube's removal is the latest chapter in a lengthy legal and political struggle that has pitted Ms. Schiavo's husband, who has long wanted to let her die, saying it was her wish, against her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, who believe she responds to them and want her to be kept alive by providing her with nutrition through a tube.

But their very personal fight over the years has drawn in both the Florida and federal courts, the Supreme Court and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida.

In the last 24 hours, House and Senate leaders in Washington entered the fray by issuing subpoenas intended to circumvent the judicial order and delay the tube's removal, which was originally scheduled for 1 p.m. today. President Bush also said that he believed her feeding tube should not be removed, and the White House indicated that he would sign any legislation to prolong her life that made it through Congress to his desk.

The tube's removal came only after Judge Greer, of Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, rebuffed the latest efforts by lawmakers to block his order, saying he saw no legitimate reason for Congress to intervene.

In his remarks to reporters, Mr. Felos, the lawyer for Mr. Schiavo, alluded to ongoing efforts to try to have the feeding tube reinserted, but he declined to elaborate or speculate on their prospects.

"Not one of those political leaders would ever, ever submit their own family members to the indignity and illegalities shown on Mrs. Schiavo, yet for their own political gain they can do it to her," Mr. Felos said.
He reminded reporters that numerous courts had sided with Mr. Schiavo, who has said that his wife, even though she never signed a living will, had indicated to him in conversations that she would not want to be kept alive if she became incapacitated.

"Mrs. Schiavo had a right to choose her own course, she chose it, the courts found," Mr. Felos said. "She has a right to die in peace. Write to your congressman and tell them, Terri Schiavo has a right to die in peace. Let her go in peace."

The latest, topsy-turvy developments began early this morning, when members of a House committee issued subpoenas for Ms. Schiavo and her husband to appear at Congressional hearings later this month.

Since Ms. Schiavo, 41, appears unlikely ever to be in a position to testify, the intent of the Congressional subpoenas seemed to be to block the feeding tube's removal by using a law enacted to protect witnesses summoned by Congress.

Just before Judge Greer's 1 p.m. deadline, another Florida judge delayed the removal order for about an hour until Judge Greer could weigh the new developments.

But by 2 p.m., after hearing from lawyers from Capitol Hill and for Michael Schiavo, Judge Greer, referring to the feeding tube, said that workers at her hospice "need to remove it forthwith."

Judge's Greer's decision came after an unusual hearing held by telephone conference call. The judge spoke, from a location that was not disclosed, with a lawyer for the United States House of Representatives and a lawyer for Michael Schiavo, none of whom were in the Pinellas County Courthouse, where the call was monitored by a court stenographer, a few other court officials and journalists.

The judge turned down the House lawyer's request for a nine-day postponement. "I'm not going to give you indirectly what I wouldn't give you directly," Judge Greer told counsel for the House of Representatives.

The House lawyer had said that committee members would travel to Florida and were willing to hold a committee meeting in Ms. Schiavo's hospice room. But the judge refused.

"I find no cogent reason why the committee should be able to intervene into a case involving the decision whether or not to remain on life support," the judge said. "I must remind you that this order is over five years old."

Ms. Schiavo collapsed in 1990 and suffered extensive brain damage when her heart briefly stopped, possibly due to a potassium deficiency. Eight years later, her husband wanted to remove her feeding tube, setting off years of legal feuding with her parents.

This morning, the Senate majority leader, Senator Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, said that the Schiavos were being summoned by Congress in connection with an inquiry into the handling of her case. His statement pointed out that federal law protects witnesses called before Congress "from anyone who may obstruct or impede a witness's attendance or testimony."

"The Senate and House remain dedicated to saving Terry Schiavo's life," Senator Frist said, adding that Congressional leaders would seek to hold a hearing with the Schiavos on March 28. "The purpose of the hearing is to review health care policies and practices relevant to the care of nonambulatory persons such as Mrs. Schiavo."

Representative DeLay, the House Republican leader, emphasized that House leaders would continue to work this weekend to reconcile differences between House and Senate legislation.

But Representative Henry Waxman of California, the senior Democrat on the Government Reform Committee, called the subpoenas a "flagrant abuse of power" that amounted to Congress' dictating the medical care Ms. Schiavo should receive. "Congress is turning the Schiavo family's personal tragedy into a national political farce," Mr. Waxman said.

In Pinellas Park, relatives and dozen of supporters of right-to-life causes who have been attracted to Ms. Schiavo's case gathered outside the hospice where she lies in a hospital bed requiring round-the-clock care for all her basic needs.

Many carried signs objecting to the tube's removal, others wore tape over their mouths with the word "life" scrawled on them. One man used a trailer and his car to haul around a giant Jesus figure on a crucifix. Several people were pushing children or other adults in wheelchairs. Police officers in cars and on foot patrolled the entrances to the hospice, and guarded orange barricades to contain the crowd.

Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue, a leading antiabortion group that has been helping Ms. Schiavo's parents, was also outside the hospice. He left no doubt that many conservatives saw Ms. Schiavo's case as a test for how well conservative lawmakers would hew to their conservative bases.

"This is the biggest test for DeLay and Hastert," he said, referring to the House majority leader and to J. Dennis Hastert, the House speaker. "We will hold the House leadership accountable if this thing fails."

"The conservative right of this country has lobbied frantically for two decades to finally get control of both houses," he continued. "We didn't get here so they could pour this down the drain."

"They owe us a political debt of honor," he said. "We are about to find out what the United States House of Representatives if made of."

Ms. Schiavo's husband and her parents have long disputed her condition. The family has said that she reacts to them. Doctors who have examined her have told the courts that Ms. Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state, meaning that while her eyes are open and might widen, stare or follow objects, her brain is incapable of emotion, memory or thought. She breathes on her own, but depends on a gastric tube for sustenance.

Earlier this afternoon, a lawyer for the family, Barbara Weller, emerged from the hospice and asserted that Ms. Schiavo had appeared to respond to news that she might be going to Washington.


Abby Goodnough reported from Pinellas Park for this article, Maria Newman from New York, and Carl Hulse from Washington. Christine Jordan Sexton contributed reporting from Tallahassee, Lynn Waddell from Clearwater, Fla., and David Stout from Washington.